Hoeneß’s 100th Bundesliga game
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VfL Wolfsburg is sliding deeper and deeper into crisis due to the bankruptcy at VfB Stuttgart – and coach Daniel Bauer is threatened with elimination after the next setback. In the 0:4 (0:3) defeat, the Lower Saxony appeared unsettled and remained winless in the Bundesliga for the seventh time in a row.
Given Stuttgart’s superiority, the new second-to-last in the table was still well served with the result. In front of 57,500 spectators, VfB underlined its European Cup ambitions thanks to goals from the two German World Cup candidates Deniz Undav (21st minute) and Jamie Leweling (30th/42nd) as well as Nikolas Nartey (90th + 5) in stoppage time and ended the 24th matchday in fourth place.
Bauer, whose successor is already the subject of public speculation, received “100 percent support” from Supervisory Board Chairman Sebastian Rudolph before the game on “DAZN”. After the performance, the inquiries are unlikely to decrease.
The VfL defense was busy right from the start, as the Swabians got off to a powerful start in coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s 100th Bundesliga game and created their first good opportunities through Atakan Karazor and Ermedin Demirovic. Chris Führich also repeatedly broke through on the wing.
The rebuilt VfB defense – in addition to Josha Vagnoman (thigh injury), defense chief Jeff Chabot was also out due to a “small back problem”, according to Hoeneß – was rarely if ever tested. The coach had warned about the “great individual class” of the guests.
The home side were happy to play; the ultimately insignificant 0-1 defeat in the Europa League against Celtic Glasgow apparently left no trace. Rather, the Stuttgart team seemed to carry the momentum from their entry into the round of 16, but they also encountered very little resistance.
Once Undav, twice Leweling
Undav benefited from Wolfsburg’s failure to clear a Führich cross with his 14th goal of the season. When it was 2-0, Leweling was left criminally alone at the far post and with the third goal, Leweling made it worth seeing.
Gesticulating, Hoeneß urged his team on, while Bauer watched his team’s collapse, lost in his seat. It was fitting that Lovro Majer pushed the ball past the goal alone in front of VfB goalkeeper Alexander Nübel.
Wolfsburg’s coach sent his team out of the dressing room early and made three changes – among other things, he hoped for fresh accents from winter newcomer Kento Shiogai. The Japanese tested Nübel from a distance (57′).
However, hardly anything changed in the course of the game. Stuttgart dominated, Wolfsburg mostly trailed and were also lucky that a handball by Konstantinos Koulierakis in the penalty area didn’t result in a penalty.
In the final phase, the hosts controlled the action and initially missed further goals because Kamil Grabara saved one or two times in the VfL goal. But even the goalkeeper couldn’t prevent the score from going down 4-0.
